1999 Canadian Grand Prix
1999 Canadian Grand Prix
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1999 Canadian Grand Prix

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1999 Canadian Grand Prix

The 1999 Canadian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held on 13 June 1999 at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was the sixth race of the 1999 Formula One season.

The race was notable for the four crashes that occurred in turn 13 and for the number of times the safety car was deployed. Turn 13, the final chicane, had four separate crashes in which a driver either went wide or spun into the wall. Three of the drivers who crashed there had previously won the Drivers' Championship, leading to the wall becoming known as the "Wall of Champions". The safety car was deployed four times in the race, a record at the time, and was the first Formula One race to finish behind the safety car following Heinz-Harald Frentzen's crash with four laps to go.

Michael Schumacher started on pole for the first time in 1999, ahead of Mika Häkkinen and Eddie Irvine.

The front runners got off the line cleanly, with Michael Schumacher maintaining first place, Häkkinen second, and Irvine third. Behind them Giancarlo Fisichella passed David Coulthard to take fifth place. Jarno Trulli, starting ninth, went off the track trying to pass Heinz-Harald Frentzen up the inside into turn one. Trulli spun across turn one, collecting Jean Alesi and Rubens Barrichello in the process. Trulli and Alesi retired, and the safety car was deployed. Alexander Wurz also retired during the first lap with transmission problems. Barrichello limped back to the pits where repairs were made to his car. He was able to resume the race, albeit two laps down on the leader, but ultimately had to retire because of the collision damage after having completed 14 laps.

The safety car returned to the pits at the end of the second lap, having been deployed for only one lap, allowing normal racing to resume with the top six being Michael Schumacher, Häkkinen, Irvine, Fisichella, Coulthard and Frentzen.

During the third lap Coulthard passed Fisichella going into turn 13 to retake fourth place. Later that same lap, Ricardo Zonta retired after spinning into the wall at that same turn 13. He stopped just off the track, missing his right rear wheel. This brought the safety car out again. Zonta was the first of four drivers to hit the "Wall of Champions" in this race.

At the end of lap 7 the safety car left the track again, allowing the race to resume normally again. The order remained stable until on lap 15, Damon Hill became the second driver to hit the turn 13 wall. He was able to pull off the track in a safe location, and the safety car was not deployed.

During lap 24, Pedro de la Rosa came in to the pits for a scheduled stop, but when trying to leave his gearbox failed. This forced him to retire. One lap later Stewart's Johnny Herbert, from seventh position, was the first driver running in the top ten to make a scheduled pit stop. He returned to the track in tenth place.

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